2022-07 Raynors HCA Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/15/2022
The first letter is datelined Bivouac Walker’s Division near Vernon Mississippi, June 17 1863, 2pp. In part, “We are near the Big Black river awaiting ... the organization of Johnson’s arm ... I expect .. shall march to the relief of Vicksburg ... The country through which we must pass has great scarcity ... for the Yankees have already passed over it destroying the sources of water and provisions ... The force of Grant too is very large in comparison with ours and we look forward to no light work ... In preparation we have reduced to the lightest marching order, few men have a blanket to cover them. .. I lost my baggage at Montgomery ... have been mostly so sick with dysentry ... I was left in hospital ata place called Canton. ... I was so desolate and so unkindly treated ... that I managed to escape and rejoin the command more dead than alive. ... At Jackson we had a skirmish with the enemy in which we were exposed for nearly an hour to a terrific fire of artillery ... which have taught us with scaricity of food and bad water only, and excessive heat, what it is to ‘catch hell in Mississippi’ ...” ... plus, Bivouac on the Vicksburh Road, Mississippis, June 30th, 1863, 2pp. In part, “We are lying in camp organizing an army whose numbers seem quite in adequate to the objective of the campaign. .. Old Joe Johnston may see a way of relieving Vicksburg, but I am damned if I see it. ... The planters have large estates and raise immense and profitale crops. So much so tha a planter with only a hundred negroes is not considered very well off. ...” ... plus, Bivouac near Morton, Miss. July 26th, 1863, 4pp., (note something has spilled on the letter causeing some light areas). In part, “Sugar I think willgo to $2.50 a poundfor the fall of Vicksburg and the loss of the entire Mississippi valley makes it a lost crop. ..There are lots of money to be made from mo;asses and tobacco, but I think unless Charleston should fall, that our main speculation promisses well. But when I make all this money, will it be worth anything? I wonder how the Confederacy will win back its lost territory, recover its working population, or bring to life its dead soldiers ... At midnight we were aroused ... and informed that Vicksburg had fallen .. we retreated to Jackson ... however he soon caught up with us and for nine days we were exposed to his fire, lying in trenches awaiting his attack and enduring every privation. On the 4th day the Sharp Shooters were sent out picketing to hold the enemy in check ... On the night of the 5th, the army made one of Johnson’s ‘masterly retreats’ and evacuated the town right under the nose of the enemy ... At present Jackson and Canton are heaps of smoking ruins. Mississippi is all but lost. ... plus, Savannah, October 3, 1863, 3pp. In part, “Do you remember the conversatiojn I had with you before I went to Mississippi, and if I’m killed do remind George of my talk with him on the same effect. .... plus, Camp near Chattanooga, Oct 27, 1863, 3pp. In part, “Speculation will be safe and profitable in anything for awhile to come. The confederacy is not going to fail, as you would be assured if you were in the army to see the strength and endurance and spirit of our troops. ...”
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